It is among the first efforts linking the GOP to budget cuts aimed at Planned Parenthood. Women, of course, are a key demographic who voted in unusually high numbers for Republicans last November and could play a pivotal role in 2012.

The Thursday attack follows another DCCC move to use the budget debate against Republicans in 50 districts earlier in the week.

A DCCC spokesman refused to say how much was spent on the new initiative. But it&rsquo;s certainly less than the Republican efforts earlier in the week.

That&rsquo;s understandable, given the debt levels at the DCCC. The committee was saddled with $18.6 million in debt at the end of January, compared with $10.5 million for the NRCC.

The outside conservative group Crossroads GPS alone spent $450,000 on radio ads in 22 House districts, and the National Republican Congressional Committee announced it is spending an undisclosed amount on phone calls targeting 10 vulnerable Democrats. The DCCC is going after just five Republican freshmen on women&rsquo;s issues, and there will be no advertisements on traditional broadcast media. Instead, Democrats will rely on targeted phone calls, Web ads and e-mails.